unw-the future

when UNW get a true & "complete" coverage within Australia through Wimax...see below and read where this is all heading...........


Hot-Spot War Warms Up
By MARC JONES (SMH NEXT 02/05/06)

Phone users in Britain came a step closer last week to making calls on the move over the web in the latest effort by internet based telcos to grab a share of the mobile phone operator market.

Us- based internet phone company Vonage and British wi-fi hot-spot operator the Cloud linked up to allow Vonage subscribers who have paid for wi-fi mobile handsets to make calls at landline rates from Cloud’s hot-spots in Britain. If users wander outside the zone, however, their calls will be cut off.

“It’s really a wake-up call for telecoms market. It’s saying there’s really a much better, cheaper way of making calls,” said Vonage Managing Director Kerry Ritz. “This is the inevitable next stage in the voice over internet protocol revolution.”

The service will cost no extra for Vonage customers who already pay ($14.30) plus line rental to make unlimited internet calls to British & Irish landlines.

The handsets cost about ($190) and are about the size of a large mobile phone.

The Cloud has nine hot-spot zones in British cities including London’s swaure mile and Canary Wharf financial districts and Manchester city centre.

It also beams its services to many British airports and big railway stations as well as coffee shops, hotels and university campuses.

Last week, France’s second-largest consumer broadband provider, IIiad, launched a service that allows French customers using dual-mode mobiles to latch on to a wi-fi network when they are in hot-spots but use existing mobile networks when out of range.

IIiad’s new service costs ($12.41) to activate in addition to the ($38.99) a month for basic high-speed internet, TV and voice-over IP service.

BT, formerly British Telecom, will launch its version of the wi-fi mobile phone service in a few months.


- REUTERS